Carter, Dempsey to the Hill — Boehner expected to bring ‘clean’ DHS bill to the floor

THE BIG SPEECH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress at 11 a.m. in what’s being decried by Democrats as a partisan stunt and trumpeted by Republicans as a necessary step for a man who believes the emerging Iranian nuclear deal would be an existential threat to his nation. Ahead of the speech, Israeli politician and Likud party member Danny Danon laid out Netanyahu’s concerns in an op-ed in POLITICO Magazine:

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“Our disagreement with [the] American administration can be summarized as follows. They are trying to stop Iran from going nuclear right now, and are seeking to ensure that its ‘breakout’ ability is restrained in the future. We intend to do all in our power to make sure that Iran never obtains this dangerous capability. In our view any agreement that recognizes Iran’s ‘right’ to enrich uranium is unacceptable. There is no doubting that this is a serious dispute.” More here: http://politi.co/1DLjvj8

— JOHN KERRY DEFENDED THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH IRAN IN GENEVA YESTERDAY, saying he was “concerned by reports that suggest selective details of the ongoing negotiations will be discussed publicly in the coming days.” The secretary of state, addressing reporters, added: “We will not accept a bad deal. We have said no deal is better than a bad deal because a bad deal could actually make things less secure and more dangerous. Any deal that we would possibly agree to would make the international community, and especially Israel, safer than it is today. That’s our standard.” The full transcript is here: http://1.usa.gov/1wLDYPJ

— AND IN AN INTERVIEW WITH REUTERS, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA said any deal will require Iran to freeze its nuclear program for at least 10 years. The goal, he said, is to ensure "there’s at least a year between us seeing them try to get a nuclear weapon and them actually being able to obtain one." http://reut.rs/1B4jXb6

— Fifty-five congressional Democrats have said they will not attend Netanyahu’s speech. The Hill: http://bit.ly/1IFIlq1

MEANWHILE … CARTER, DEMPSEY TO THE HILL: Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey are set to defend the Pentagon’s budget request at 2:30 p.m. before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where they’ll face an audience mostly in agreement with them about the need for more defense dollars next fiscal year than allowed under the Budget Control Act of 2011. In his prepared testimony, Dempsey declares the current U.S. defense strategy wouldn’t be viable if DoD gets anything less than the topline it’s requesting for fiscal 2016.

“The Joint Chiefs and I fully support the PB16 budget,” Dempsey says. “It is what we need to remain at the lower ragged edge of manageable risk in our ability to execute the defense strategy. However, we have no slack, no margin left for error or strategic surprise.”

AND CENTCOM CHIEF LLOYD AUSTIN IS TESTIFYING BEFORE HASC: The head of the U.S Central Command, which is carrying out the U.S. war against the Islamic State, testifies at 10 a.m. before the House Armed Services Committee — a hearing that seems oddly timed to be overshadowed by Netanyahu’s speech. The hearing is on the president’s proposal for authorizing U.S. operations against ISIL — and Austin is almost certain to be asked if he has concerns about the three-year time limit and the ban on “enduring” U.S. ground combat operations.

HAPPENING TODAY: Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall and top weapons tester Michael Gilmore speak at the 30th Annual National Test and Evaluation Conference at 8:10 a.m. at the Waterford Conference Center in Springfield, Virginia. And Carter meets with the president in the Oval Office at 1:30 p.m.

SIREN — BOEHNER EXPECTED TO MOVE ‘CLEAN’ DHS BILL, via CNN’s Deirdre Walsh and Dana Bash: “House Speaker John Boehner is expected to move soon — as early as Wednesday — to bring up the clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for a vote on the House floor, according to two House GOP sources familiar with leadership discussions. A clean bill to fully fund the Department through the end of the fiscal year is what Democrats have been demanding, and conservatives have been fighting against.

“Conservatives have been demanding a conference committee with the House and Senate to work out the differences on the DHS spending bill. But on Monday, as expected, Senate Democrats voted to block any effort to set up a conference committee.” http://cnn.it/1wOInRQ

TOP TALKER — CLINTON USED PRIVATE EMAIL ACCOUNT AT STATE DEPARTMENT, reports Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times: “Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record. Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act.” http://nyti.ms/1B4MqgV

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WAR REPORT — IRAN, NOT U.S., PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR IRAQ’S TIKRIT OFFENSIVE, via Tamer El-Ghobashy and Julian E. Barnes of The Wall Street Journal: “Iran took a leading role in the Iraqi military’s largest offensive yet to reclaim territory from Islamic State, throwing drones, heavy weaponry and ground forces into the battle while the U.S. remained on the sidelines. The operation that began Monday aims to retake Tikrit, best known as the hometown of Saddam Hussein, 80 miles north of the capital Baghdad. In addition to supplying drones, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard force has fighters on the ground with Iraqi units, mostly operating artillery and rocket batteries, according to a U.S. military official.” http://on.wsj.com/1BQ4oHt

INDUSTRY INTEL — HIGHLY CLASSIFIED LONG-RANGE STEALTH BOMBER COMPETITION SETS OFF COST DEBATE, via Christian Davenport of The Washington Post: “With so little known about it, there is growing concern about the system’s cost. And given the Pentagon’s vast history of cost overruns on major weapons systems, experts worry that even though a contract has yet to be awarded, it is already facing the same troubling problems that have plagued other programs.

“The Air Force has estimated each new bomber will cost $550 million apiece, but that figure was set in 2010 without counting for inflation and is already five years outdated. It’s also significantly less than the cost of its predecessor, the B-2 bomber, and not that much more than some high-end commercial jets. Coming in at such a low price will be difficult, if not impossible, analysts said.” http://wapo.st/1B4NgdH

SPEED READ

— Al-Hair, the largest high-security prison in Saudi Arabia, is home to nearly 1,100 prisoners jailed for terrorism but living in posh conditions. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1CkQSeE

— The Army chief of staff says he’s “very concerned” about potential budget cuts to defense spending in the United Kingdom. Defense News: http://bit.ly/1EaqBAi

— A bloc of senators is trying to stop the Air Force from putting the A-10 Warthog in its backup fleet. Stars and Stripes: http://goo.gl/YwPNfb

— The Navy is deploying underwater drones to help determine how fast the Arctic ice is melting to get a better sense of when new strategic waterways are going to open up. DoD Buzz: http://bit.ly/1GKZlXk

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